Teh 2012 London Olympic Games thread

If the opening ceremonies aren't the stupidest thing I've ever watched....I don't know what is. I think I'm going to the hot tub to half-drown myself and then to bed. I'm embarrassed for my mother's homeland.

It's way over done. Over an hour in, and no athletes. We'll be asleep before the teams show up. I'mstill hoping to see Paul McCartney, if he's there.

Oh, a rapper. I am sure the Queen loves that! My god. I'll last one more minute before I throw up and turn off the t.v. What a f*cking t.v. aberration; rappers at the Olympics??? The Queen should kill the director. Rappers are hell on earth, like Voldemort.

March of Nations is still going on. The North Korean contingent had one woman smiling and the camera never strayed from her. All the others looked about as happy as if they'd been told their families were being sent to the gulag.

My favorites were the four 'Independent Olympians' not affiliated with any nation. They were jamming out to the music and high fiving people as they walked along! They had no one to impress or embarass

After looking at some of those Scandanavian flag-bearers, one word comes to mind - procreation.

Coolest national costume - a close one, but I have to go with Mongolia

I would estimate that half the people marching had a camera or video recording device in hand.

People will miss that it once meant something to be Southern or Midwestern. It doesn't mean much now, except for the climate. The question, “Where are you from?” doesn't lead to anything odd or interesting. They live somewhere near a Gap store, and what else do you need to know? - Garrison Keillor

Way off topic

Originally posted by Dan

Off-topic:

When I was growing up, we had this old globe. It probably dated from the early 1950's or late '40s. My mom, born and raised in the old country (England), would say, "See all that pink? That used to be ours." The "pink" indicated all the colonies and territories under the Crown. Those were the days.

The Opening Ceremonies are what the home country gets for spending billions of dollars. One big ad for tourism. The Olympics are really just one large orgy. That with some athletic competitions in between.

Add the fact that you can't even watch half the competitions, and you really have just a glorified swim, gymnastic, and track meet. Not that I mind, but I sure would like to watch archery or some of the other sports we never get to see...

A common mistake people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools. -Douglas Adams

I'll get this out of the way, since it's something you see on EVERY message board EVERY time the Olympics comes around.

"Why can't NBC cover some of the more obscure sports like (futbol/dressage/synchronized swimming/biathlon)?"
"Why does NBC focus so much on sports that Americans are participating in?"
"Why does NBC run so many glurge stories about American athletes?"
"Coverage on Canadian television is so much better."

Christ, NBC just can't live down their Atlanta coverage, can they?

Growth for growth's sake is the ideology of the cancer cell. -- Edward Abbey

I'll get this out of the way, since it's something you see on EVERY message board EVERY time the Olympics comes around.

"Why can't NBC cover some of the more obscure sports like (futbol/dressage/synchronized swimming/biathlon)?"
"Why does NBC focus so much on sports that Americans are participating in?"
"Why does NBC run so many glurge stories about American athletes?"
"Coverage on Canadian television is so much better."

Christ, NBC just can't live down their Atlanta coverage, can they?

Dressage? What do they want to see, Ann Romney's dang horse?

BTW, we're old and RJ gets up really early. We went to sleep during the "B" countries.

I watched it from beginning to end. I enjoyed the march of the athletes, just listening to the hasty comments from notes. If aliens were watching they were probably wondering why Earth has so many different countries. Back on Zylar there are just two countries....."Haves" and "Have Nots". The "Haves" pilot the rockets, the "Have Nots" take out the trash and empty the on-board latrines (heads).

Yes, the show is greatly over-produced.
_____

Mr. Phelps should have placed a "fatty" on the edge of the pool, finish line. He sucked today.

The NBC commentary during the opening ceremony was dreadful. During the inane interview with Michael Phelps THIS is what they weren't showing which was a beautiful tribute to the 7/7/05 terrorist attack victims.

Did you know that this is the first Olympics where every country sent at least one woman athlete?

"He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?"Jeremiah 22:16

My wife is an opening ceremonies junkie. She even hooked the computer up to the TV and piped in the live feed from the BBC earlier in the day so she could see more of it. I just do not care at all for all that pageantry. Way too over the top. If I walked through the room when she was watching the parade of nations, I would stick around for a few minutes because I do enjoy that part... and I will admit to enjoying Mr. Bean's little skit.

As for the sports, I always tell myself that I don't care about them either - if the sports were interesting they would be stuff we would want to watch all year long every year. The fact that I can barely convince myself to sit through 5 minutes of them every four years should show just how stupid I think they are. But like I said, that's just what I tell myself. In reality, every time I flip through, I end up watching much more of it that I planned. Case in point - the 45 minutes worth of women's archery that had me glued to the screen while my daughter was taking a nap yesterday.

I'm usually an Olympics junkie. But this is the first Olympics that I can remember where I don't feel inclined to watch anything. We had the Opening Ceremony on the TV Friday night, but were busy doing other things.

The tape delay is one thing, but combined with social media, it goes to another level of finding out the results before you watch it.

"I'm very important. I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany"

I'm usually an Olympics junkie. But this is the first Olympics that I can remember where I don't feel inclined to watch anything. We had the Opening Ceremony on the TV Friday night, but were busy doing other things.

The tape delay is one thing, but combined with social media, it goes to another level of finding out the results before you watch it.

I would not call myself a junkie but once upon a time I did enjoy the Olypmics. I did watch over the weekend and I was bored...even swimming or beach volleyball did not hold my interest. I think I watched more "Storage Wars," "Chopped," and "Auction Kings" than I did the Games.

I did watch most of the Great Britain/UAE soccer match and was wondering how many people in the US actually know the difference between GB and England.

I have never been much of a fan of the opening cermonies except for the parade of nations...its like a college bowl game parade in a circle.

Every time, I say I won't watch, but I just can't resist some of the summer stuff (diving, swimming, track and field) and the winter (skating, skiing). I am just perpetually annoyed that the network showing the Olympics spends more time on commentary than on performance. We only see the top athletes, so we're innured to expect perfection! And that's just not right.

Every time, I say I won't watch, but I just can't resist some of the summer stuff (diving, swimming, track and field) and the winter (skating, skiing). I am just perpetually annoyed that the network showing the Olympics spends more time on commentary than on performance. We only see the top athletes, so we're innured to expect perfection! And that's just not right.

Heard a commentator say that people who watch sports will watch anyway so they market to the people who aren't usually interested. That means going heavy on the human interest drivel.

“Death comes when memories of the past exceed the vision for the future.”

Heard a commentator say that people who watch sports will watch anyway so they market to the people who aren't usually interested. That means going heavy on the human interest drivel.

I'm not much on "drivel". At least I know who most of the athletes are before the Olympics. And I'm not a normal sports fan (I only watch the SF Giants because of RJ...). But there is the female contingent who won't watch a lot of sports, like me, but find certain OLympics stuff compelling.

I'm pretty convinced that most swimmers are dumb. Lochte is fast but gives a horrible interview and comes across as a dumb jock. And what's with the diamond "grillz", please kid, you're at the Olympics don't make a scene of yourself and your country.

People will miss that it once meant something to be Southern or Midwestern. It doesn't mean much now, except for the climate. The question, “Where are you from?” doesn't lead to anything odd or interesting. They live somewhere near a Gap store, and what else do you need to know? - Garrison Keillor